


Horrific screams and sweet, caramelized apples.

by moonandstarlight



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Back to Earth, Going Home, Halloween, Haunted Houses, M/M, klance, space ranger partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-28 01:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12595572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonandstarlight/pseuds/moonandstarlight
Summary: Halloween comes with many goods; haunted houses, clowns, and nightmares.Might only sound like bad experiences, but at least they had fun explaining it to Coran and Allura, and Keith got a kiss.





	Horrific screams and sweet, caramelized apples.

**Author's Note:**

> My Halloween fic, up a day later but it's here, I reallyyyyy hope you all like it, and be free to give some feedback if you'd like x

“What will be the appropriate clothing for this Halloween?” Allura is the first to break the silence after their plan making. “A sexy nurse costume,” Lance says absently, but not without flashing a smirk afterward. What a classic comment. The planning was easy, they had today to pack and then they would leave first thing tomorrow morning; the hard part was explaining Halloween to their alien residents. “Sexy nurse? Nurse?” Allura asks, looking genuinely interested, and not even the slightest bit concerned in any way. Which, Keith assures, is something you always should be when Lance makes that face. Keith pushes Lance lightly, “ignore him Allura, just wear something warm and cozy, like gloves and a good jumper.” Keith receives a push from Lance.

They’ve been in space for about six years soon, but they make it work. They have regular visits to earth when the time is there and the opportunity. What brought this idea to the table was Pidge’s off-hand comment about it soon being Halloween, whereas Keith then had a blast finding out. Halloween has always been his favorite holiday -where other preferred the sweetness of Christmas, he took the bitterness of Halloween better- so, they decided it was worth a trip to earth; they’d go to a place Pidge and Hunk knew of, where they have all the most delicious treats and some scary facilities to check out.

Shiro is the first to get up, “I think I’ll go pack, get that done,” he says with a smile, before heading for the door. “I think I must go do the same, I am still conflicted.” Allura follows after, Coran in tow, mumbling about the same. Silence falls over the last four, Lance’s finger running through Keith’s long locks and watching the life of stars that pass by the long panels of windows. His eyes always flicker in all different directions when he watches the stars. “Can’t remember the last time I went to a haunted house, I think I cried.” Pidge laughs from beside Lance, “oh Gods, I can just imagine that.” Keith laughs, Lance seems like the guy who would act all tough to end up getting his ass handed to him inside the haunted house.

Lance stretches out, before finding Keith’s hand to curl with his own, “let’s go pack, I need to look equal amounts spooky and cool tomorrow.” Keith rises up after Lance.

“I just remembered, I own zero Halloween shirts. Why didn’t I bring some with me?” Lance turns to look at Keith and he gives a laugh, “ _really_ , why didn’t you?” He falls onto the bed, turning onto his side and glancing at Lance as he starts rummaging through their closet. “Well, you do dress up at Halloween,” Lance digs in deeper, before pulling out his Altean suit, “I could go as an Altean diplomatic paladin; that no one on earth knows of.” Lance gives the suit a dirty glance like it’s personally offended him. Keith sits up, “if you were to wear that, you would most definitely look sexy and cool, so one point achieved.” Lance gives him a smirk, suit falling to the ground, “Allura’s going to spot the wrinkles next time,” Keith comments, hands closing around Lance’s shirt, “worth it.”.

Lance’s laugh carries through the room, as their lips lock. Keith’s legs accommodate Lance, bringing their bodies against each other.

. . . 

They park a long way from the Halloween event, it isn’t exactly ideal that someone stumbles upon their very unusual vehicle. They’re all buzzing, even Allura and Coran who had been so nervous to finally see some more of Earth. They haven’t been here as much as Keith would like; he loves Allura and Coran’s company, and as much as Earth has its wrongs, he finds the place pretty in its own way.

The walk is funny, like always, as they all share stories from when they visited haunted houses. Surprisingly, Lance is the most dramatic, arms constantly flailing out to exaggerate how scary the place was. Though, Pidge comes with the scariest story; mostly because her voice is scarily steady the whole way, and partly because this is the haunted house they’re about to visit.

Coran and Allura never really found any of the things frightening, but they did get some grimace on their face when Pidge told her story.

“And _eventually_ , we arrive.” Pidge’s sigh is satisfied, and she momentarily holds her hands out to show, before showing them back in her pockets. It’s quite chilly. “Some kind of music they’re listening to,” Allura notes, stepping through some mud and looking displeased down towards her shoes. At least they all took on some high boots of some kind, it is basic knowledge that these places involve muddy ground. “It’s classic Halloween jingles, reminds me of home. My moms always listened to these while cooking,” Hunk says, bopping his head to the known jingles. “‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is everything missing and this would be spot on.” Lance smiles, “oh no, it’s full-on horror movie month. _Nothing_ else,” Keith states, meeting Pidge’s high-five. Lance gives a groan at that but ends up smiling when Shiro and Hunk agree that it’s a great movie.

When they stop again they’re at the gate, looking at the dark and gloomy ground filled with activities. There is slight lighting from food places, and some old streetlamps, but most things are kept on the darker side. Understandable, you never know what’s hiding in the dark; Keith loves that line.

Lance goes to get them tickets, almost screeching after getting to be the one to do so. The others point out the various attractions to Allura and Coran who both look very interested. Keith isn’t sure that they get the concept of Halloween still, specifically the part about dressing up as all these other beings; both of them asked questions and were very worried if they came in the wrong clothing they would be chased. It makes sense since Alteans are chameleon people and change to fit in for survival.

“Time to get our spook on,” Lance waves pieces of paper in his hands, a huge smile on his face. They trudge to the entry, and the first creature they meet, Keith must admit looks almost cute. Long curly horns, a curly mop of hair and some cute dungarees, but still it get’s him in the mood.

When you step over the threshold, it’s a completely different atmosphere. Keith loves the adrenaline that pushes through him as he suddenly realizes everything can happen. Someone could be waiting around that corner to jump out, or you could walk into a clown with sharp teeth all ready to chase you around for minutes that feels like hours. These places are terrifying, but God has he missed them.

Keith laces his fingers with Lance, before turning towards the others, “should we start off easy? Maybe take the pumpkin park?” Lance asks, taking a look down at a map of some kind. “It says it’s for the ‘lovers of small scares’,” Lance continues, “I think we’ll take that first. My stomach is already disliking this whole idea.” Hunk shakes his head, disappearing further behind his big scarf. Keith is half surprised that Hunk wanted to try this out, but again he sounded really fond of scary things. Maybe he’ll just have to warm up.

Keith slows down slightly to be able to fall in step with Hunk, “I must say, here is a delicious sweet smell in the air.” Coran almost flies as he turns his head, twirling his mustache around his finger. “It’s probably caramelized apples, I’ll buy you one.” Pidge fixes her glasses, “they taste awful,” Keith throws in and Coran looks at him puzzled. “Or at least, that’s my opinion.” He’ll just let Coran realize that by himself.

Keith turns around, and some meters away opens up a huge pumpkin field, stretching on. It looks like the perfect spot for a horror film; long rows of pumpkins, some smashed to pieces. Dead looking trees curl high and strangely around, with bushes that Keith has never seen in his life. Smoke is surrounding the whole field, leaving much to the imagination. Worst of, no light. Keith can see small oil lamps standing to the side, and he’d bet his hair on those are for you when you take your casual stroll down the long fields.

They decide to move towards the light, all of them absently moving closer to each other. Fighting instincts kicking in; you must protect your fellow paladins, your family.

“Are we supposed to take a lamp ourselves?” Shiro asks, stepping in front and looking around.

A loud shriek, Keith turns, and Allura lashes out, her hand bunched together, as she punches the approached creature. The person stumbles slightly, but doesn’t get to fall as Shiro and Hunk follow after to catch them, “we are so sorry!” The apologizes flies from Hunk’s mouth, as he helps the Pumpkin Man -Keith finds this the most appropriate, as a huge pumpkin is placed to look like its head- up again. “It’s good, take a lamp and explore the fields.” The person gets out, still holding the pumpkin. They just take a lamp and follow the orders.

“I just punched someone,” Allura shrieks out when they’re some time away and disappeared into the fog, “yeah, you kind of did.” Shiro says, not even trying to play it off sweetly, “ _so_ , rule number one, no punching.” Laughter erupts around them -it isn’t only them-.

. . .

  
“Pidge, Jesus Christ, where is she?” Shiro calls as he clings behind Keith, who is following closely behind Lance. Somehow, Lance has a surprising amount of ‘ _knight in white_ ’ in him, as he is rather calm when walking in the front. Also, it’s only fair that it’s him now, they’ve all done it, and Keith ain’t doing it again.

Halloween has evolved like crazy in the years they’ve been gone, some of these things look so real, that Keith is afraid he’ll have nightmares. “Found her!” Allura calls from the back, but Keith almost doesn’t process, as he is too busy focusing on every corner and every movement.

They’re in the crazy house, and those are wild enough when they’re meant for an amusement park, but by now being amped with crazy creatures and very disturbing circus people, it’s a whole lot more wrong. For at least a good third of this trip through this endless house of trippy stairs, disturbing mirror walls and very bad lighting, some clown has been following them. It’s like the crazy mixture between a regular clown and the joker. This make-up, it looks like the mouth was actually cut up; showing off sharpened white teeth. At every opportunity where they seem the slightest bit unfocused, this clown appears and it freaks them all.

Keith despises clowns; for his own good, they could quietly leave this planet and never return. He has nothing for them, they hide true feelings behind layers of smiley-faced make-up, what is not to hate?

He holds Lance’s hand closer at that thought, casting a glance over his shoulder to look down their tight line, all pressed together out of fear. Keith could use some sugar after this, might even eat one of those apples if that’s all they have.

There’s a poke on his shoulder, and he turns to glance at Shiro, only to meet huge yellow eyes, glowing in the darkness of the crazy house. Keith screams, he screams loudly, as he falls to the other side.

This is the worst thing, it only makes these creatures happier to hear this. It’s like fuel, makes them want even more to creep you to the bone.

. . .

Coran walks forward this time, though this time it’s only for the candy. He is following his trustful nose, hunting down those delicious treats. He, of course, ignores just about every person coming up to them, sticking their face into theirs and filling them with fright.

Or maybe, Coran just looks really intimidating. He is acting like they’re on a full-on mission, holding his head high and walking straight ahead. Keith turns to look up at Lance, eyes meeting blue. “I’m not afraid to admit that I am slightly terrified,” Lance says, “watch out, they might hear you.” Keith smiles, and believe him, he might be smiling but he really hopes they didn’t.

They tumble to a stop as they’re stood in front of a small hut, filled with bright candy and other things, that look suspiciously much like eyeballs.

“Babe, they have hot chocolate with marshmallows,” Lance comments, hand squeezing Keith’s. “We’re getting that.” Keith agrees firmly, he’s missed earth food. He and Lance talk about that a lot; they almost use as much time on that as their other activities and believe Keith they do spend a lot of time on those things.

A poke, “you’re thinking hard.” Lance smirks, leaning down casually to place a kiss on Keith’s cheek. “Hunk, we’ll take two hot chocolates with marshmallow,” Lance announces, giving a thumbs up to Pidge, Hunk, and Coran who are walking towards the shop. “Do they have seats?” Allura asks, casting her eyes around.

Lance ends up pointing some high tables out and they all scatter around one of those, hands finding their pockets as chill air spreads around them. Keith has forgotten how cold it can be on Earth in October, and especially when you aren’t wearing self-heating armor or some amazing space suit.

“How are you liking everything?” Shiro asks with a smile, eyes turning towards Allura.

“Amazing. I have been many places, but I have never experienced something like this on any planet. It is truly extraordinary and horrific at the same time, that so many people come to get scared. Never seen anything like that before.” Allura’s eyes turn thoughtful after her statement, watching everyone around her carefully. “It’s a shame that you homo sapiens don’t respond well to the rest of the universe,” Allura continues and Keith turns to look at her, “we do not, what?” She smiles, “don’t you think we’ve tried reaching out to you? You keep it secret and share to nobody. Instead, you live your life without any worry for the rest of the universe.” Allura shakes her head, before giving a chuckle, “it’s _quite_ humorous.” Keith has got to laugh at that, Earth is far behind in that department.

“Here you go,” Hunk places a cup in front of Keith and he eagerly closes his hands around the warmth. Keith gives a satisfied hum as his finger start regaining some heat. “It’s the perfect temperature, you should be able to drink it,” Hunk mumbles behind his own cup, before sipping and sighing in delight.

Keith takes an experimental sip, warmth and a coalition of flavor exploding inside his mouth and he smiles happily. He takes another sip, before placing his cup down again. “It’s great,” Lance comments and Keith turns to look at him, nodding happily. “Can see you liked it,” Lance says with a smirk, and then he is leaning down and softly catching Keith’s lips in his. “You had some chocolate,” Lance continues and Keith rolls his eyes.

. . .

Screams. So many screams. But these, they’re painful, filled with horror and cutting into your brain; make your ears hurt. Dead corpses are moving around, dark eyes tearing into your soul as they step past you, or stop to stare. Their clothes are shredded and filled with stains. Their hair is messy and seems to be missing clusters of it here and there, exposing a raw scalp.

The lights are flickering, illuminating everyone in this dodgy color that makes everyone look slightly more damaged. It curves into Shiro’s scar, worsens it, and make Keith sick to his stomach. It takes the kindness from Allura’s eyes and the playfulness from Pidge’s. They’re all affected by this lighting and it almost tears at Keith.

Some of these things, it makes everything hurt. Some of these things are too real, look like the harsh realities that they have indeed faced.

It was one of their concerns when planning if they should go to this thing that could easily trigger something inside them all. But, the thought quickly left, as they all decided that they do not want to live in this fear of ‘what if’s. They wanted to go here and experience what they once knew of as one of the funniest holidays, and eat too much candy and get scared a couple of times. They would stay until it felt a little too heavy, and then they would leave for the castle of lions. They would go home when they needed that the most.

. . .

“Not to freak you guys out, but someone has been shadowing us for the past twenty minutes,” Shiro states, breaking the small chatter between them. “You notified?” A high pitched voice appears in their group, and everyone let’s out loud screams. If Keith’s asked about this later, he won’t admit how loud he screamed.

Shiro clears his throat, “who am I? Who are _thee_?” The person presses in further, casting his eyes around, until settling onto Lance and Keith. Keith might have thought it was his conscious playing tricks on him, but the fact is clear when they all turn to look at them. “Us?” Well, thank you, Lance, for stepping up. Keith might be a fan of everything scary, but that doesn’t mean he likes having nasty zombies up his face.

The person is a rotten yellow color and wearing shredded white robes. His hair is greasy and pulled back, or at least the hair left is. Keith tilt his head slightly, and there it is; there is a pair of broken wings on his back and Keith gives a suspicious glance at the person, before deciding it must be Amor.

Might as well tell his statement, “you’re Amor.” The person brights up, scrawny hand flying into the air. “Human, you’re accurate,” Amor states brightly, receiving a cough behind them and a laugh, “human?”. Keith sends a hard glare towards Pidge, who smirks devilishly in return.

Amor doesn’t seem to bite into it, because honestly, it could be some weird Halloween joke. “I must predict your future. Your love, see if it’s true. I must read the cards and look at my arrows.” Keith nods slowly, glancing up at Lance once again. “Fine, yeah, okay, I trust us. Or at least, I trust my better half.” Lance grins, “you better mean I’m your better half, or there isn’t much trust to gain from me.” Keith answers and Lance lets out a laugh, touching his side, “a hard hit, babe.”

“Spectators, step in line beside me,” Amor says -Keith has no idea who this is, but at least they’re getting a laugh out of this- waving his hands. They all follow as told, looking about to crack and let out loud laughs. Keith would do the same if he didn’t stand with some strange and scary looking man in front of him. “How long have you been together?” Keith smiles, “four years.” Shiro whistles beside Amor, “damn right, I won.” Lance pokes Keith’s side steadily, eyes meeting his.

Keith has long ago gotten access to understand Lance’s eyes. He gets the words behind every flicker and every change, and in return, he gives everything back. Just as much Lance likes to tell he won, Keith is just about one hundred percent sure he won just as much.

“I foresee,” Amor starts, Keith turning to them, well he didn’t need much to get the idea. Keith turns fully, giving his full attention, “that you two,” Amor continues and they could be here the rest of the night.

Then there’s a head and an ear piercing scream, “quiznak!” Keith jumps forward, pulling away from the terrifying scream and scare, “my heart has stopped,” Lance breathes, hand holding his chest firmly, as he heaves after air. “You’re _wicked_ ,” Lane says, pointing his finger towards Amor who smirks evilly, before giving a hand wave.

Keith looks up, and staring down at them is everyone else, grins on their faces, “you all knew, right?” There are firm nods given to him. Damn these people, they have even gotten Allura and Coran to keep quiet when they were supposed to be their safety net.

. . .

Keith sighs softly, fishing out gloves from his coat pocket. “I am about done with caramelized apples and jump scares, because I’m sure that one of the two will make me puke soon.” Hunk groans loudly, taking a look over his shoulder anxiously. “I agree with Hunk, not on the puking, but about the ‘very done with this’ hidden point in his statement,” Pidge says, fixing her glasses like a normal reflex.

Keith agrees beside them, looking towards the exit. He’d actually just appreciate to get home and into a bath to wash all this dirt off his body. Lance would probably enjoy a bath as well, he has his thing with long baths and a weird fascination of foam.

Shiro is the one to determine they should probably head back to the ship, as everyone gives some muffled replies. Keith is equally amounts tired after this long day, by doing all these things -they went out for dinner before this and took some walks through Halloween themed streets- and for taking in all these new things. He’s sure it’s because earth used to be what he knew the best, and now, it isn’t. They’re evolving all around him and he doesn’t get to follow along, he is out in space doing something else. He has never imagined saying something like this, that space is more familiar than his home, or what used to be his home for years.

The walk is longer towards the ship this time, as they’re all tired to the bone. Okay, that’s a lie, everyone is tired, except Allura and Coran who are loudly discussing the actions of this place in detail. Keith’s glad they had a good experience; if they didn’t, he wouldn’t have left this place with a good feeling.

They all tumble inside the back, Coran, and Shiro taking the front. “This was hilarious, didn’t realize how much I’ve missed these things,” Keith says, yawn following close after and he smiles slightly. “It was fun, we should make a tradition to go to special holidays on Earth. Maybe we could take thanksgiving next, or Christmas?” Pidge asks, “what is this Christmas?”

Allura smiles politely when everyone starts telling various stories of what Christmas is.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you get spooked?   
> honestly, that is the hardest thing to write, spooky things, tell me your ways stephen king


End file.
